By Junaid Abdullahi
Defiant Iranians set off fireworks and erupted into spontaneous acts of celebration following the death of president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash.
Hardline Raisi, 64, and the country’s foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, were killed on Sunday along with six others.
While Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared five days of mourning, plenty of others set off fireworks in several cities and posted videos of themselves dancing in the streets.
The daughters of Minoo Majidi, 62 – an Iranian woman who was one of hundreds of people shot dead by security services during the nationwide fallout following the death of Mahsa Amini in September 2022 – shared a video of them raising a glass to the president’s death.
However, open displays of celebration were limited as dissent is often met with a strict crackdown.
In one video showing fireworks, a woman can be heard saying: “People are rejoicing at the downfall of Raisi.”
Another man said over a second clip: “People are celebrating and I congratulate the president’s death.
“I hope the rest of them die too.”
State media halted all of its regular programming to show prayers being held for Raisi.
But one Tehran resident sent a video to the Iran International website cheering over fireworks: “Let’s celebrate the good news of Ebrahim Raisi’s chopper crash.”
Two women, Mersedeh Shahinkar and Sima Moradbeigi, danced and smiled in a clip in response Raisi’s helicopter plunging into mountainside in heavy fog near the city of Tabriz.
Shahinkar was blinded by security forces in 2022 protests.
Moradbeigi lost the use of one of her arms after an armed guard blasted her at point-blank range.
Women’s rights activist Masih Alinejad declared Monday “world helicopter day” and added it is “the only crash in history where everyone is worried if someone survived”.
